A $10 million identity theft case went to a federal jury Thursday in Minneapolis following closing arguments that attacked the honesty of key witnesses for the prosecution.

“This case is all about credibility,” said Glenn Bruder, the defense attorney for Nana Osei-Tutu, one of the four defendants. If a key informant who testified against his client isn’t credible, Bruder said, “the case falls apart like a building constructed on a rotten foundation.”

Prosecutors had laid out the elaborate scheme for jurors using graphics, bank records and testimony from accomplices-turned-snitches over the course of the three-week trial. But as defense attorneys pulled apart the government’s case Thursday, testimony from certain co-conspirators was a popular punching bag.

The government “had to hire eight cheaters, liars and swindlers,” said Jean Brandl, an attorney for Julian Okeayainneh, described as the architect of the scheme by prosecutors. Those “snitches” were the only witnesses who constantly hesitated during their testimony because “they had to think about what they had to say,” she said.

But Ann Anaya, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, said the combination of hard evidence and detailed testimony from co-conspirators proved the case. And she cautioned the jury that the standard for any not-guilty verdict is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, “not proof beyond a fanciful or capricious doubt.”

The sweeping case involves immigrants from West African nations who were found to be involved in an ID theft ring that stretched from California to New York and had a smattering of victims in international locations. But the Minnesota ties were strong, including electronic pictures of the Mall of America, where defendant Olugbenga Adeniran purchased gift cards, and of Southdale, where he was arrested on suspicion of using a stolen credit card.

In her closing argument, Brandl portrayed Okeayainneh as a bumbler who followed the lead of Oladipo Coker – the real alleged kingpin who is missing and may have fled to his native Nigeria, Brandl said.

“(Okeayainneh) is not the queen bee. He’s a wannabe,” Brandl said.

She mentioned her client’s incompetence, noting it wasn’t too bright to bring Angela Grigsby, who entered banks to set up fraudulent accounts, to his storage locker in Los Angeles. Grigsby later told investigators the location of Okeayainneh’s storage locker.

Though the amount of material found in the locker was a shocker – including 500 credit cards – Brandl said much of it was old and no longer valid.

“It’s like he’s a hoarder of useless identity information,” Brandl said. When investigators showed up at the storage locker and requested that they also be allowed to search his car – where there was more incriminating evidence – he allowed it.

“Hey, there’s a criminal mastermind for you,” she said sarcastically.

The case held the jury’s attention, and several of the jurors appeared to have almost filled their court-supplied notebooks with observations on the case. They’re tasked with sorting through 41 charges distributed among the four defendants.

Bruder and Myles Schneider, attorneys representing bankers accused of being insiders who aided co-conspirators – took apart the character of the people who testified against Osei-Tutu and Fata David, another defendant. They asked that their clients be found not guilty on all counts.

Schneider noted that Jonathan Earley, a co-defendant who testified against David, said he was “very close” to David and that they had attended some of the same weddings. But when pressed, Earley couldn’t name the weddings, didn’t know the name of David’s husband, how many children she had or the name of the church she attends.

The biggest flaws in the case against Osei-Tutu, Bruder said, is that investigators forgot his client is presumed innocent and that they placed their faith in criminal informant Okwuchukwu Jidoefor, leading to a flawed investigation. He noted the government never searched Osei-Tutu’s bank accounts to look for the supposed cash he received for his role, “because the evidence would have been inconvenient for them.”

An accusation that Osei-Tutu supposedly accepted a bribe, but then reported it to his superiors the same day, wasn’t included in the original indictment and was added months later, Bruder said. Osei-Tutu and another banker put the money in an envelope, initialed it and put the money in the bank vault.

“A guilty person wouldn’t put the bribe in a vault,” Bruder said.

The largest piece of the government’s case is an indictment against 13 people who were involved in the ID theft ring. Three are fugitives and may have fled the country, four are on trial and one, Charles Akuffo, was deported to Ghana, Bruder said Thursday. The remaining five arranged plea deals with the government.

Bruder said the government shipped Akuffo off to Ghana so his version of events with Osei-Tutu – which didn’t agree with Jidoefer’s account – wouldn’t be heard.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

A marker on the Hillcrest Golf Course proclaims the Hillcrest Knoll to be Ramsey County's highest hilltop, though folks in Arden Hills and Shoreview might dispute it. Soon, the 1920s-era golf course may have another claim to fame -- housing, and lots of it. At Larpenteur Avenue and McKnight Road on the city's Greater East Side, Hillcrest represents 112 acres...

The owners of the St. Paul Saints are seeking an exemption from having to pay its players Minnesota's minimum wage. The Saints say without the exemption, the baseball team runs into a problem with a league rule limiting club payrolls. “We’re in a league that has a salary cap," Saints Executive Vice President and General Manager Derek Sharrer told state...

Construction of Interstate 94 through St. Paul in the 1950s and 1960s upended the Rondo neighborhood, forever separating what's now Summit-University with a deep highway trench. Maybe not forever. Organizers behind the ReConnectRondo initiative have kicked off a week's worth of community panels, a dinner, reception, tours and outreach opportunities with land use and real estate experts from the Urban...